David McKELVEY’s Post

It's encouraging to hear that Operation Opal, the new centralised police unit, is beginning to make headway against organised shoplifting gangs. 👏 Retail theft has long been a significant burden, particularly for small business owners who often feel the impact more acutely than larger chains. With shoplifting offences reaching a 20-year peak of 443,995 reported incidents leading up to March 2024—a staggering 30% increase from the previous year—it's clear that this is more than just a minor inconvenience. It's a severe threat that affects profitability, employee morale, and the overall viability of many businesses. 😟 Each incident can be debilitating for small retailers, leading to financial loss and increased stress. Operation Opal's identification of 152 prolific shoplifters in just three months is a promising start. This initiative must continue to gain momentum, not only to protect retailers but also to restore confidence in the high street. Collaboration between the police, retailers, and the community ensures that this progress leads to lasting change. 🤝 We should celebrate this positive step forward and hope it marks the beginning of a more secure environment for all retailers. In this environment, the focus can return to serving customers rather than constantly guarding against theft, which may, in turn, save consumers money. 💪🛍️

A New Approach to Tackling the Scourge of Shoplifting I argued in a previous post that a key strategy for turning back the tide of shoplifting (342,000 offences in 2022/23) is to encourage more retailers to use private investigations firms with prosecution capabilities, because the police will only attend when there is either violence against a shop worker or a shoplifter has been detained. Now in London, TM Eye a leading private investigations firm, which partners with local councils, retailers and the police, says it has made 2,000 shoplifting arrests, 800 successful prosecutions and has recovered £485,000 of stolen goods. This is an impressive achievement. We know there is huge unmet demand across the country from retailers, BD zones and councils for the police to detect, arrest and prosecute more shoplifters, many of whom are prolific offenders; but the police and CPS lack the resources to do this. TM Eye shows that private investigations firms with the right experience, capabilities and professionalism can fill the police’s and CPS’s resource shortfalls. This private – public partnership model is, I think, an exciting policing and criminal justice innovation. It alleviates the police’s and CPS’s resource shortages; it provides a solution to retailers' unmet need for more action; and it offers society a proven new approach for tackling the scourge of shoplifting. #BritishRetailconsortium #LocalGovernmentAssociation #AssociationofBritishInvestigators #AssociationofChiefPoliceOfficers #TMEye

🗒The GOV.UK held an inquiry into tackling shoplifting this week The Justice and Home Affairs Committee held its second and third short enquiry to discuss rising shop thefts, violence against retail workers, prolific offenders and facial recognition technology. They discussed how retail crime needs to be looked at as a more victim-based crime impacting employees and customers. 💠At the NBCS we work with police and retailers to gather data and target prolific offenders to reduce the abuse employees face at work. To learn more click here: https://lnkd.in/e5yMTRj #ReducingCrime #RetailCrime #UkGovernment

Retail theft/shoplifting/crime. Archie Norman has, as is his style, called it as he sees it - and what he sees not only isn't a pretty picture but is a frank indictment of the lack of policing and failure by the UK judiciary and government to support retailers through the prosecution and sentencing process! Frankly if I was a retailer right now I could see the temptation for retailers to institute a 'defund the police' approach and for me to use the money to pay for more and better anti-theft tech and monitoring and, perhaps, member-only access systems to my stores. The latter is, I believe, the way the retail sector will be going - with 'loyalty' in terms of AI-driven facial recognition and access (either general or specific store area) for IVCs (identified valued clients) the reward. #retail #shoplifting #crime #anticrime #stores #shoppingcentre #prosecution #CPS #crownprosecutionservice #MarksandSpencer #shoptheft #customerjourney #CCTV #technology #antitheft #police #security #LBC https://lnkd.in/d2ccA6X8

The answer to this problem is staring retailers in the face. My Local Bobby and TM Eye have had significant success in tackling retail crime across all their beats. Prosecution and conviction is the ONLY effective option. Retailers need to look at their own internal non intervention and non enforcement policies if they really want to stop this tsunami of retail crime and more importantly violence towards their own staff. https://lnkd.in/eGfPNgYM

Serial or abusive shoplifters will now face tougher punishments, as the Prime Minister sets out tough new action to crack down on retail crime. Earlier this year, a report found violent and abusive incidents against shop workers rose by 50% in 2022-23. Assaulting a retail worker will be made a standalone criminal offence in England and Wales, sending a clear message that there will be tough consequences for this unacceptable behaviour. As Security Guarding Company of the Year, Kingdom are here to support your business with our professional security solutions to safeguard your premises and combat violence. #KingdomSecurity | #SecuritySolutions | #CriminalActivity | #RetailCrime

"To the shoplifters and those abusing shopworkers, enough is enough." The government has announced additional measures to tackle retail crime. Here's the overview: 🔹 Assaulting a retail worker will be a specific criminal offence 🔹 The deterrent is up to six months in prison, an unlimited fine, and a ban from specific premises 🔹 Repeat offenders should wear a tag as part of a community order 🔹 £55.5m will go to the police for facial recognition technology 🔹 This will help catch perpetrators and prevent shoplifting While we welcome this announcement, we hope it will come with the budget and resources needed to become a strong deterrent. The full announcement is here: https://lnkd.in/ejsD3v_q #Retail #Security #RetailCrime #SecurityIndustry #SecurityProfessionals

I have been catching up on my reading including “The Fall of Policing” an excellent book by retired cop Dave Marshall in which he references the Ferguson Effect, named after Ferguson, Illinois which experienced a dramatic rise in crime following the cessation by officers of proactive policing and retraction into reaction-only attendance after criticism of their actions when a black man died as a result of police interaction. Currently there appears to be a UK wide epidemic of shoplifting, or as I prefer to call it, stealing from shops. This seems to be accompanied, or rather, enabled, by many forces declining to attend these incidents and retailers themselves withdrawing their own staff from taking action. We used to maintain in my old force a Shoplifting Squad, especially strengthened during holidays such as Christmas or school holidays, both to proactively patrol retail areas and to observe and stop known or suspected shoplifters to deter or arrest them. I fear this no longer takes place. Could this Ferguson Effect be also affecting performance in other areas where policing appears to be failing such as roads policing, burglaries, public disorder etc etc? Maybe it’s time for Chief Officers and PCCs to realise that crime reduction demands proactivity not reactivity.

Stop crime against retailers Download and share our A4 flyer to inform colleagues, retailers, and employees, sparking discussions with canvassers and politicians. An A3 poster is also available for notice boards to engage staff and retail customers as key stakeholders. Download here https://lnkd.in/eKixMnvn #retail #retailers #crime #SCAR CSNA (Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association) #stopcrimeagainstretailers

🚨 Pleased to see that Government has listened to us and has announced that #violence against retail workers is to be made a separate offence. Our research found a rise in threatening behaviour, intimidation, and/or assault over the last four years, alongside increased reports of serious organised shop #theft 🏬 Read our #CrackingTheCase report 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eY46JUS2 #BusinessCrime #Crime #SmallBusinesses #Retail #RetailCrime